They said: “You have gone mad for the one you love.”
I said: “The spice of life is only for the mad.”

—Romain Gary

Immersion
A Recital for Solo Kamancheh

The kamancheh is an instrument of the inner voice—a medium between silence and sound, memory and presence, tradition and renewal. Tonight’s program charts its sonic and emotional possibilities between Persian art music, improvisatory freedom, and a very personal musical language enriched by elements from Baroque music, flamenco, and jazz.

The program combines a number of original compositions, developed over many years and continuously expanded through improvisation, in a full solo program for the first time. These pieces originate from an inner movement inspired by folk melodies, classical Persian modes, poetry, and existential questions. The music is not merely expression, but an act of searching—for closeness, transformation, for something that is beyond words.

Origins
Inspired by a folk song from Mazandaran (Northern Iran)
A soft opening: from a familiar tune, a delicate web of sounds unfolds between memory and the present. Origins explores new dimensions of playing the kamancheh by transcending traditional techniques and developing innovative forms of expression. At its heart is the search for new sound colors that emerge from extended playing techniques, making the expressive power of the instrument audible in a contemporary context. Thus, Origins is both an homage to tradition and a departure toward new horizons.

Geworfenheit (Thrownness)
A musical take on the philosophical concept of thrownness: the feeling of being cast into the world without having been asked, with all the beauty and profundity of existence.

Gefährten (Companions)
A piece about relationships and resonance: inner voices that meet, accompany each other, drift apart, and find each other again.

Unspoken Works
The unspoken that lives within us—sound as a medium for what words cannot express.

Sargashteh
Literally: wandering around. A musical journey through vast modal landscapes between being lost and the search for meaning.

Bid-e Madjnoon
Named after the weeping willow, a symbol of mythical love, but also for bending in a storm. An improvisation in avaz bidad (based on the Persian radif) leading into a composition in the same avaz.

Shabe Jodaee
Based on a poem by 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi Fakhr-al-Din ʿIraqī: a poetical commitment to love that lives at the limits of endurance—and yet persists.

On the night of our separation, I weep bloody tears for you.
What should I do? Such suffering is the fruit of true love.
I have no right to a single rose petal—so how could I venture into the rose garden?
For I have heard that the scent of infidelity wafts from all flowers.
According to what doctrine? According to what humanity does one kill the one who loves—just because he loves?
I knocked on the gate of the monastery, and one came forth and said:
“Enter, enter, ʿIraqī—for you are one of us.”

Rood
Literally: river. A lively piece in the avaz bayat tork (based on the Persian radif) that immerses itself in melismatic flow of this mode, floating and grounded at the same time.

Shooshtari
In the dastgah homayoon (from the Persian radif). An homage to the tradition of classical Persian music, starting from a free improvisation that is then extended by a new composition.

Versunkenheit (Immersion)
A new work for solo kamancheh that takes audiences into a lyrical sound world. Delicate, swaying melodies unfold in a balance of melancholy and meditation—a musical immersion into silence and introspection.

Qanat
Named after the ancient underground water channels of Persia that brought life to arid landscapes, this work deals with a central symbol of Persian culture. The composition translates the idea into musical sounds, an interplay between flow and stillness, depth and awakening. The kamancheh reveals its power of poetic expression by exploring new timbres and building bridges between nature, history, and the explosive forces of live with polyrhythmic diversity. 
This piece was inspired by the Khorasan folk song Bahâreh Dokhtar-amu and is dedicated to dutar master Hossein Samandari. 

Navaee
A folk song from Khorasan, an echo from the eastern homeland. Dedicated to master Ebrahim Sharifzadeh.

Before Dawn
In Before Dawn, the kamancheh explores a sound world between night and breaking light. It captures the silent anticipation and mysterious tension in the hours when darkness slowly gives way to dawn. Delicate melodic lines pair with powerful gestures to create a musical image of transition: a new energy gradually arises from the depth of night, a departure into light. The piece highlights both the lyrical and the expressive side of the instrument and attempts to convey the timeless beauty of the moment before the day awakens.

—Misagh Joolaee